It is recognized as a medical condition for which treatment may
be appropriate, and is not a mental illness.

A spokesperson for the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust said:
“It is probably fair to say that young people are
increasingly interested in exploring gender.”

“There is not one straightforward explanation for the
increase in referrals, but it's important to note that gender
expression is diversifying, which makes it all the more important
that young people have the opportunity to explore and develop
their own path with the support of specialist services.”

In a recent BBC program, children who identified as transgender
were interviewed in their homes.

One child, who was given the pseudonym Jessica, said she felt as
though she was in the “wrong body.”

She told The Victoria Derbyshire show: “I really didn’t want
to be a boy. It was really frustrating for me. It feels like I’m
in the wrong body.”

Jessica said there was a period when she stopped drinking water
at school to avoid going to the toilet because boys “thought
she was a girl.” The school forbade her from using the
girls’ toilets.

The girl’s mother, Ella, said a relative had called the NSPCC to
accuse her of “conditioning” her child by “forcing
their boy to live as a girl.”